About MSPnet

MSPnet is created and facilitated by the Center for School Reform at TERC. This site is supported by the National Science Foundation. Opinions expressed on this site are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Foundation.

Pathways to Calculus

The Pathways to Calculus: Disseminating and Scaling a Professional Development Model for Precalculus Level Instruction Phase II MSP involves four Core Partners; Arizona State University, as the lead, and the Mesa, Chandler, and Scottsdale school districts. Supporting partners are: Brigham Young University, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Georgia, Northern Arizona University, and Scottsdale Community College.

This Phase II project builds on the work of Project Pathways, a targeted MSP that identified attributes of professional development for secondary mathematics and science teachers that resulted in substantive and sustained improvements in student learning, as documented by student performance on district exams, state exams and research-based tools. The Phase II project leverages the research-based processes and tools that emerged in Phase I research to be highly effective for shifting teachers' instruction to be more inquiry-based and conceptually oriented.

The Pathways to Calculus: Disseminating and Scaling a Professional Development Model for Precalculus Level Instruction Phase II MSP involves four Core Partners; Arizona State University, as the lead, and the Mesa, Chandler, and Scottsdale school districts. Supporting partners are: Brigham Young University, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Georgia, Northern Arizona University, and Scottsdale Community College.

This Phase II project builds on the work of Project Pathways, a targeted MSP that identified attributes of professional development for secondary mathematics and science teachers that resulted in substantive and sustained improvements in student learning, as documented by student performance on district exams, state exams and research-based tools. The Phase II project leverages the research-based processes and tools that emerged in Phase I research to be highly effective for shifting teachers' instruction to be more inquiry-based and conceptually oriented. Phase II builds on Phase I findings in five broad categories that are critical for supporting mathematics teachers to realize significant shifts in their students' learning of key ideas of mathematics. These are teachers': 1) knowledge of the mathematics they teach; 2) beliefs about what constitutes effective mathematics learning and teaching; 3) ability to engage in reflection on student thinking and learning in relation to their teaching; 4) use of curricular support materials that promote inquiry-based and conceptually oriented instruction; and 5) participation in Pathways Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).

Phase I resulted in the development of the Pathways Precalculus Professional Development Model (P3DM), which includes in-class student activities with detailed teacher notes, computer animations and assessments. This supported Precalculus teachers in making instructional transitions that realized significant gains in student learning. Phase II extends this work by scaling the P3DM in three ways: 1) implementation of the P3DM at the community college and university levels, 2) implementation of the model in larger classes; 3) engagement of school administrators, including department chairs, to support all teachers in Core Partner school districts (11 schools) in adopting P3DM in Precalculus. Phase II studies the process of scaling P3DM in each of the three ways, and continues to examine how the P3DM experience affects teachers' instruction in other Precalculus level courses such as algebra II, college algebra and trigonometry.

The Phase II Research Agenda addresses the following:

What institutional factors of a school inhibit or support quality implementation of Pathways Precalculus materials? What external resources are needed to mitigate inhibiting factors and capitalize on supportive factors?

What is the typical developmental trajectory of teachers understanding and taking ownership of Pathways Precalculus materials? What support do teachers need to enable this development?

What is the typical developmental trajectory of teachers' understanding of the core mathematical ideas in the Pathways Precalculus materials and ability to accurately assess students' reasoning about these ideas in the classroom setting? What support do teachers need to understand these concepts and effectively assess student reasoning?

A minimum of 150 high school mathematics teachers will be involved in addition to university and community college instructors and faculty. The products of this research will contribute knowledge and tools for scaling up the P3DM in the Precalculus strand (precalculus, college algebra, trigonometry and high school algebra II) of mathematics. The investigations will also produce insights about the factors that contribute to a mathematics department's transformation to support students in developing the capacity and confidence to solve novel problems and construct deeper and more connected understanding of the central ideas of a course.

The Unit Circle and Unit Conversions
Posted by: Justin Hoffman.
While the unit circle is a central concept of trigonometry, students' and teachers' understandings of trigonometric functions typically lack connections to the unit circle. In the present work, we discuss…